Today I had in my opinion the best lifter at my gym watch my squat form. I told him to tell me when I hit parallel. Hes never done a meet but hes been to quite a few of them. He has a 565 raw squat too so he knows what he is doing. I wasnt hitting parallel at all. When I finally did hit parallel I was like "damnthat sure is deep". I was wondering what can I do to fix this? Other than going lighter and going deeper I cant think of much. maybe my back is too far toilted. my back looks like this when Im squatting: / . Is that right or wrong? I really thought I was making progress with these heavier weights on squat but I guess it doesnt mean **** if Im not going parallel. My knees really start to hurt once I hit parallel. They were popping real loud. Anyway I wanna do it right so when I go to a contest I dont get 3 misses and bomb out.

Ive always found it easy to squat below parallel raw I sort of bounce a little at the bottom but not too much, with a shoulder width stance or just a bit bigger. When you descend to depth when you squat deep, it activates the glutes which allow you in future to squat bigger weights, and in fact you will improve quicker in my opinion squatting below parallel. I always feel a sort of pocket at the bottom where I cant descend further without modifying form in a horrendous way,which allows a stretch reflex to aid me back up.

Also the knee aches- I guess youre not using knee wraps, which helps me not get knee aches, however not sure if your fed allows them. Anyways if so I would wear lose knee wraps in training, and tighten them up as weights get heavier.

Also knee aches could be down to form, not pushing knees out to the side, however I find even with decent form, I can sometimes get knee ache when raw squatting anywhere from 400lbs plus with a belt only, which is why I tend to now wear knee wraps above 360lbs on squat, plus I dont compete raw.

Im sure many people on here squat totally raw like Mike did 700lbs without knee wraps, and he seems fine

Now squatting to depth in a suit is where it gets tricky, even Mike on here has admitted to having trouble with it, and I bombed out at my last meet in a new suit anyway, even though I now know what to do to reach depth, Ill let someone who hasnt bombed out tell you.

Hitting depth, especially raw, is usually a matter of discipline and execution. Come up with some mental cues to help you remember your execution steps. Before I offer any generic advice, do you have video you can post?

To answer you guys' questions. Yes Im doing squats raw. I have never used a suit before but my opinion on gear is slowly changing after talking to Louie Simmons. I think he's right about taking advantage of current technology. Like he says NASCAR would be slow as hell if they didnt get faster tires and better rce tracks. Anyway to answer your question, Mike I unfortunately dont have any video footage of me squatting. I think my one friend at the gym has some kinda camera on his phone to let him post videos on youtube so I'll see if I can get him to videotape me squatting. Thanks for all the advice too.

I used to have a really hard time breaking parallel. It used to take 551lbs for me to break parallel raw. Now I can get to USAPL depth raw with just a bar on my back.

Since you said you lean when you squat, it sounds like you might not be getting the weight back on your heels. I was having a similar problem and what I did was move the bar lower on my back and keep my chest up. This helped me keep the weight shifted back on my heels. Also lifting shoes with a heel made a difference as well. As far as your knees hurting, you might be letting them track in front of you. Make sure to force your knees out. This also could be associated with the weight not being on your heels.

I just wanted to thank iamwithtupac, briangodsen, Mike Tuchscherer, Phillip Wylie for all the advice. Im going to try these things out you guys mentioned on my max effort workout on Monday. Thanks so much. Also I'm going to post a question similar to this. Its kinda like a sub-question to this one.

I just wanted to thank iamwithtupac, briangodsen, Mike Tuchscherer, Phillip Wylie for all the advice. Im going to try these things out you guys mentioned on my max effort workout on Monday. Thanks so much. Also I'm going to post a question similar to this. Its kinda like a sub-question to this one.

Its ok good luck. Since you been talking to Louie Simmons has he told you to box squat? I never do box squat before but after having problem with depth in the suit, I been squatting to a box in equipment and it helped a lot just that extra inch where you really have to force it down and touch the box, where otherwise without the box you might not force it down that bit more.

Anyways since you compete raw you wont have that issue with the suit! You looking to compete single or 2 ply one day? I compete 2 ply comps

Hey jamwithtupac. Yes I did box squats today actually. 12 sets 2 reps 225 pounds 45 second rests. Yeah hes big on those. They used to do those at the old Culver Westside Barbell back in the '60s and '70s according to the Book of Methods. I think they'll help me hit parallel. Yeah when I started I just had competing raw in my head. I'm considering doing geared shows eventually. It really aint cheating. Its taking of advantage of technology I guess. Yeah Im gonna give 1 ply , 2 ply a chance once I get a little bit better. Good luck to you when you compete next brother.

For me, I have found it helpful to do front squats (using sting ray) with light weights to correct the problem I had hitting parallel. Box squats did not help at all. What was difficult was that at first I could only use the bar, but after a short time, I am up to about 50% of my back squat, and my back squat form has corrected immensely.